Good afternoon folks!
So, it’s with a happy sigh of relief that my comic’s event calendar has closed for the year. It’s been a very busy six weeks; Thought Bubble, moving home, Bristol Comic & Zine Fair, and then Loogabarooga last weekend. It’s always a lot more tiring than you think to sit/stand behind a table all day, and factoring in travelling it can be a very long day indeed. But, I love it, each and every event this year has been fantastic and I’m so grateful to be able to go and show off my comics and talk to nice people all day.
Speaking of nice people, Loogabarooga was something special! Set in Loughborough Town Hall just north of Leicester, it was the first ever Loogabarooga Comics Fair and independent to but on the same week as the Loogabarooga Festival. It was a nice big room, with space in between the tables (don’t ask me how many times I’ve had to crawl under tables or squeeze between tiny gaps to get out), and a friendly atmosphere. Drew who organised the event made it as welcoming as possible, with free entry to the event and talks/workshops for just a couple of quid. I was sat next to my band-name-generator accomplices Good Comics (such gems as Communal Banana© and Off-Brand Laser Tag© are new possible band names) and we opted for the cheese-board lunch again, much like with Leamington Spa Comic Con. It’s important to stay well fed.
It really was a nice, relaxing and fun day and Drew did an excellent job at making sure all his tabling guests were happy and comfortable. For a first-time show it was a delight, if not a little under promoted by the local council – but, give an extra year of preparation and more of an opportunity to push promotion, and I’ll definitely be heading back next year to join in the fun. Thanks to everyone who swung by my table and had a chat, and big thanks to Drew for squeezing me in last-minute and being such an excellent host!
In other news, we are now nearing the end of Inktober! Can you believe it’s almost November? Terrifying. I’ve been slowly collecting up my doodles of the fox and the butterfly, and with only six days left including today I’ve been having to rough pencil out the final drawings to make sure I can complete the narrative in time. Hard work, this daily drawing thing! Here’s a sneak peek of the progress so far (taken a couple of days ago – 23/24/25 are inked and over on the Twitter)…
By the time I’m next updating you all, it’ll be over! So keep your peepers peeled for the final collection and see what it gets turned into next month..
In other news, I’ve also been working away on a new, vaguely secret comic which will see light of day in the new year! It’s been a bit slower to progress than usual as I’m trying out some different methods of creating part of the story without using panel borders, which makes it a little more complex for me. It’s fun, and exciting, and it gave me the perfect excuse to add another book to my collection of history/artefact/anthropology books –insert heart-eyes emoji here– …check out the progress so far!
Important reading material. Referencing is key!
The Art of Mesoamerica: That face when you can’t find any gnarly Olmec grinds for your skateboard…
Working on some roughs for the new comic – first spread!
More roughs, including some sweet Mesoamerican birds.
More roughs! Can you guess what it is yet?
It’s a really fun comic to work on so far, but I definitely need to speed up a little in getting it moving towards the inking stage.. So, bear with me, you’ll be seeing lots more of this soon.
And that’s about it for now! As I said above, keep an eye out next week for the whole Inktober collection and more fun and games with comics. Until then, have a great week/weekend everyone! Peace out.
x
